Empathic Corpse Dissection

Inside the secret chamber.

Lin Yi silently regarded the several precious materials laid out before him.

Five stalks of Blood-Burning Grass and ten Vermilion Fruits. These alone were worth nearly a hundred and fifty taels of silver.

"This guy really had quite a fortune," Lin Yi muttered. He withdrew his gaze and looked again at the words floating in the air.

[Jade Cicada Cocoon: Inherited from the parent Destiny, "Molting Jade Cicada." Once its fullness reaches completion, it can break out of its cocoon and awaken its own Destiny.]

[Jade Cicada Cocoon fullness: 95%]

"Just a little more." Without further hesitation, he picked up a Vermilion Fruit and popped it into his mouth. At the same time, he willed the Destiny Talisman Coin to transform into an invisible force that began to flow through him.

--Strong Luck, activate.

Under the blessing of Strong Luck, Lin Yi felt a warm energy envelop his entire body. Even the flow of True Qi within him quickened somewhat.

Strong Luck could not only raise his Aura of Fortune, but also increase his cultivation speed and the efficiency with which he refined precious materials. It was remarkably versatile.

The instant the Vermilion Fruit entered his stomach, a vast surge of natural True Qi burst forth within him. It was like a ball of flame exploding from his dantian, setting his blood and qi roiling before transforming into warm energy that poured into every limb and bone.

Lin Yi closed his eyes and focused, letting that force wash through his meridians as it gradually filled the final sliver of the Jade Cicada Cocoon's deficit.

[Jade Cicada Cocoon fullness increased...]

Time slipped quietly by.

The candle on the stand in the hidden passage had burned down to its final stub at some point. Silence settled over the chamber, cloaking it in darkness. Only the slow, steady sound of breathing could be faintly heard.

Then a nightingale's cry pierced the stone walls. Lin Yi's eyes snapped open.

His gaze suddenly blazed in the still darkness, deep and mesmerizing.

[Jade Cicada Cocoon fullness: 100%]

[Destiny awakened—Empathic Corpse Dissection]

[Empathic Corpse Dissection]

[Effects: Empathize with a corpse, conceal one's presence through corpse dissection, bind souls]

The information about his awakened Destiny flooded his mind. Lin Yi raised his brows slightly.

"Empathize with a corpse, conceal one's presence through corpse dissection, bind souls..." He quietly mouthed the twelve characters, then mused, "Is the Destiny I awakened related to corpses because the Path I entered upon cultivating qi was the Corpse Puppet Path?"

He did not dwell on the question for long. Instead, he slowly extended his hand.

A chain flickering with a starlike, purplish-black glow silently appeared in his palm.

The chain was dark all over, as though formed from some substance halfway between the real and the unreal. It radiated an unsettling aura in the darkness. As its links swayed gently, faint clinks could be heard—not as though they came from the world of the living, but more like echoes that reached straight into the depths of the soul.

"Bind souls."

Lin Yi could clearly feel the chain's innate power to restrain souls.

"Well, I've accidentally become the bane of Soul Path cultivators." He chuckled softly and toyed with the chain in his hand.

Soul Path was also a profound method of cultivation. It focused on absorbing the souls of all things to nourish oneself.

Compared to the Corpse Puppet Path Lin Yi cultivated, whose practitioners were hounded by everyone and put to death by the righteous path,

the Soul Path's reputation was neither good nor bad. It was both righteous and wicked.

"But if used well, this Soul-Binding Chain would be a powerful weapon." Lin Yi put the chain away and turned his gaze to a corner of the chamber. "As for empathizing with corpses..."

He rose and walked into the shadows, where a coffin rested in silence.

Corpse Puppet Path cultivators dealt with corpses all year round, and coffins like this were common Treasure Artifacts among them.

They were inscribed with special restrictions that kept corpses from decaying for a long time.

They were inexpensive, and Corpse Puppet Path cultivators could generally craft them themselves.

Lin Yi pushed open the coffin lid, and a thick stench of blood rushed out.

Lying inside was none other than Hu Ma, whom he had killed earlier.

His head and body had been sewn back together, but the grotesque seam around his neck was still clearly visible. The flesh gaped open, and the blood had dried into dark brown scabs.

"Empathize with a corpse..." Lin Yi reached out once more. The Soul-Binding Chain in his palm seemed to sense its prey and shot out almost instinctively, a streak of eerie light plunging into Hu Ma's skull.

In an instant, Lin Yi's body shuddered violently.

A torrent of information surged into his mind like a breached dam.

Scene after scene, insight after insight, technique after technique unfurled in his consciousness as though he had experienced them all firsthand.

[Martial Way qi-entry technique acquired—Long Rainbow Technique. Can be cultivated directly to perfection.]

[Martial Way seventh-rank technique acquired—Elixir Release Scripture. Can be cultivated to Martial Way eighth rank.]

[Martial skill acquired—Reckless Blade. Can be cultivated to mastery.]

[...]

Everything Hu Ma had cultivated in life—

techniques, martial skills, cultivation insights, even the subtle sensations of channeling and exerting force—all flooded into Lin Yi's mind at once, as though the lifetime of another man's martial accomplishments had been forcibly crammed inside him.

Lin Yi slowly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with shock.

"So this is empathizing with a corpse..."

A single use was worth years of painstaking cultivation for an ordinary person. If he had enough corpses to draw upon, his cultivation speed would likely reach a terrifying level.

He looked down at Hu Ma in the coffin and could not help sighing.

"Even in death, he's proved useful to the very last."

"But this technique seems to be a Martial Way technique from the Rainbow Martial Hall..."